Drummer`s Role In `Soap Opera`

Blues Band A Winner

September 27, 1991|By MICHAEL SAUNDERS, The Local Scene

One of my favorite veg-out movies is The Blob, a classic, low-budget sci-fi flick in which hero Steve McQueen is out-acted by a bloated alien slime-being (bearing an uncanny resemblance to cherry Jell-O) that threatened to engulf a town.

South Florida`s own sea of slime, the Jeff and Kathy Willets sex-scandal sleaze show, is seeping into the most unlikely nooks and crannies, oozing its way past politicians` offices and businessmen`s bedrooms like a mucus trail left by a mammoth garden slug.

Ever since our blob burst, the goo has splattered everywhere, unfortunately, including the local music scene.

Carolyn Colachicco, drummer for the Fort Lauderdale progressive-rock band Vesper Sparrow, also works as a waitress at a popular downtown Italian restaurant. Two weeks ago, she served the Willetses dinner; on Monday, the Broward state attorney`s office served her with a subpoena.

``I can`t believe they`re taking this thing so seriously, to spend taxpayers` money to bring waitresses into court,`` Colachicco said. ``It`s become like a soap opera.``

Colachicco probably has one of the healthiest attitudes toward the whole odious affair. She had virtually ignored it until her chance encounter with the Willetses, and even then she had to be told by co-workers who was munching garlic bread at her table.

GOOD BLUES NEWS

Triumph over hardship is the essence of the blues, so it was especially fitting that a long-struggling local band beat 26 competitors in the National Blues Foundation contest to find the best unsigned talent.

The Roach Thompson Blues Band won the title in Memphis on Sept. 1, but will officially accept the B.B. King/Lucille prize in Memphis on Oct. 13, during the W.C. Handy Awards show. The Handys are the blues community`s version of the Grammys. The spoils include a recording deal with a small label and a good shot to perform next year at the Chicago Blues Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

This was the break the band has been looking for, mouth harpist Jack Bluni said. ``It has definitely given us a national notoriety. There`s no guarantee that the big labels will come to our door, but their eyes open a little more when you approach them as a national award winner.``

Four local clubs -- Cheers, Tobacco Road, Club M and the Cactus Cantina -- helped ease the hardship by supplying plane tickets to Memphis for the upcoming ceremony. Fans can help the band celebrate at Tropics in Miami Beach, Oct. 4 and 5, or on the Oct. 15 ``Blues Cruise,`` which also features the Groove Thangs and Little Nicky and the Slicks. The Discovery Cruise liner leaves Fort Lauderdale at 7:15 p.m. and returns at 12:15 a.m. Tickets are $31. Call 761-5934.

BLUES BENEFIT

The blues community is rallying around one of its own, Delta Blues legend James ``Son`` Thomas, who is recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumor and struggling to pay a $50,000 medical bill.

Benefit shows are happening nationwide, so Cheers in Fort Lauderdale is staging one on Sunday for the 64-year-old singer guitarist. Call 771-6337.

BOCA EXCHANGE

Palm Beach County has a new live-music venue with a very familiar name. The Musicians Exchange, long Fort Lauderdale`s home of top-name jazz and blues artists, has merged with Bourbon Street, a relatively new restaurant/club on Mizner Park Boulevard in downtown Boca Raton.

The original Cafe Exchange on Sunrise Boulevard is still open, but management is looking to relocate -- again -- to the Riverwalk district (near the Broward Center for the Performing Arts) in downtown Fort Lauderdale. For information about Bourbon Street, call 750-0682.

NOTEWORTHY SHOWS

Singer Joan Cartwright calls Fort Lauderdale home but has spent most of the summer touring Europe. She`s back for a series of jazz and blues shows, and gets started with a solo-piano performance at Cafe Phoenix in Fort Lauderdale tonight and Saturday night. Stop by Saturday`s Suniland Park Festival to get Cartwright`s full-combo treatment.

Other shows worth catching: Amboog-a-lard, Miami Riot and XSF, Saturday at Washington Square in Miami Beach. At Squeeze in Fort Lauderdale, Black Janet on Oct. 2, and Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids on Oct. 9. Southern rockers Bandit, fresh from an opening gig for Molly Hatchet, play Oct. 10 at the Ambassador Bar in Deerfield Beach.

GEORGIA ON YOUR MIND?

A little traveling music is appropriate for six area acts chosen to perform next week at the NewSouth Music Showcase in Atlanta. If you plan to be in the Peachtree State Oct. 2-6, cheer on these local winners:

Act III, a young R&B/dance band with members from throughout Broward County; Casey Lynn Hosack, a 16-year-old country singer from Naples who plays Fort Lauderdale weekly; Lake Worth-based metal band Raped Ape; local alternative- rock outfit Second Son; progressive songbirds Vesper Sparrow, unveiling another new look; and lunchbox-toting hard-core rockers Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids.